Prog genres that you dislike
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
Forum Description: Discuss specific prog bands and their members or a specific sub-genre
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134968
Printed Date: May 22 2025 at 10:29
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Topic: Prog genres that you dislike
Posted By: Gnik Nosmirc
Subject: Prog genres that you dislike
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 18:48
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Disclaimer: I don’t actually dislike any of these genres—I’m just less drawn to them, that’s all. Symphonic prog: I wouldn’t say I dislike symphonic prog. In fact, many great early prog bands like Yes and Genesis were symphonic, and I really enjoy more recent acts like Wobbler or The Flower Kings. That said, the genre can be pretty hit-or-miss for me. It often leans into clichés, and many albums fail to surprise me because of that. Compared to RIO or eclectic, it is often less experimental, and at the end less remarkable. So it's not that I dislike symphonic prog itself — I'm just cautious when approaching it. I'm aware there are counter-examples (Bacamarte, All Traps on Earth, etc.), I'm not saying symphonic prog as a whole is not compelling.  Progressive metal: I’ve always had a bit of a feud with metal in general. Sure, it’s catchy, but it rarely moves me emotionally. That said, I’m not opposed to noisy or hardcore music—I love The Mars Volta, and a lot of early prog bands like King Crimson or Atomic Rooster explored proto-metal territory. My issue lies more with conventional prog metal, which often suffers from the same shortcomings as symphonic prog: it can feel formulaic and uninspired. I also struggle with much of contemporary instrumental rock or virtuoso-oriented music in the vein of Polyphia or Sithu Aye. While technically impressive, these albums often lack cohesion and come across more as displays of skill than fully realized artistic statements. The same criticism could be made about jazz-fusion as well (Allan Holdsworth, for instance). Psychedelic/Space Rock: Funnily enough, many so-called psychedelic or "trippy" albums end up feeling less genuinely trippy than a lot of RIO or post-rock. Just saying. I don’t dislike psychedelic rock, but it often comes off as bland. ------------- Eclectic/RIO/RPI/Canterbury |
Replies:
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 21:04
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Tech/Extreme Prog Metal and Proto Prog for me. Folk to a lesser extent, as I've discovered many great Folk records over the years, it's just usually not my thing. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 21:32
Hi, I wonder if the real issue is that things change with time, and the definitions end up being left behind, and not able to get updated. HOWEVER, I do not listen to genres at all ... I listen to music! Recently I wrote on a slight comment/review of a band about krautrock, and the difference between a "guided improvisation" and a "free form improvisation", and the way to say it was a film/theater set of words ... script or no script ... and the early "krautrock", did not exactly have a script (witness Werner Herzog's film about Klaus Kinski ... the "krautrock" version on film and theater!)(or Tago Mago, that came from 20+ hours of wide open improvisations per Holger!!!) and its start was sort of described as something that Amon Duul 1 (the original) was doing, which was just a party and fun circle and there were no rules or scripts except (likely!!!) get stoned and then get laid! (Thus, the origin of AD2's first album which fits their very typical/satirical style of comments!) That review/comment was a "guided" tour for the band, with the drummer on a beat, and/or a guitar leading, and their freedom was not as wide open as we would think. Thus, entering this band into "krautrock" makes sense, only because it "sounds like" ... not because it "belongs". The "symphonic" thing is even more scary, since a lot of it was originally coming from stuff that was classically inspired and one might even consider KE a strong person there, but then, it was considered "art rock" because the majority of classical music is/was considered "art" ... but today, the Internet does not care about "art" or music that is similarly created like a "symphony" would ... the whole thing for symphonic seems to be ... it sounds like ... and it's just short cuts and not exactly "symphonic" at all ... but it has a keyboard with strings on the synths ... and the composition? Who cares? It's not about music anymore, it's about the sound!!! We just have to update, or clean up the definitions, so they are not "stupid", or at least extremely simplistic. Tough area, and I think there will be too many ideas and comments! Later on, for example, "krautrock" added beats, and Neu had them, and so did CAN, but in almost all of CAN, the drummer never interfered with the music, and added a lot of touches that fit really well (Chain Reaction to Quantum Physics) and the beat was over by then to set the stage for the flow that was coming ... which is not on the CD!!!! But is on the LP ... you did not even hear the constant pounding of a snare drum, a sign that the drummer can only keep time and is not a good music listener! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Gnik Nosmirc wrote:Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 21:42
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This has been done a number of times, but then what hasn't unless it's really off the wall, arcane, insane, or just plain inane? I like music from every category. I love psych but have often found my favourite psychedelic music to not be in that category. I love lots and lots of Krautrock which can be very trippy, I love acid folk, and I love a lot of neo-psych acts. In the Psych category, one of my very favourites is the Japanese band Ghost and there's J.A. Caesar. I really like Algarnas Tradgard. I do dig Pink Floyd, and I like King Gizzard, and actually many others. Generally I'm not big on music in the Neo-prog and Prog Metal category especially (I love lots of post-metal, plenty of heavy metal, stoner metal, drone metal...). I like Duster in Neo-Prog here a lot, but I consider that to be NeoPsych. While there is lots of Symphonic Prog I like or love, it's not one of my favourite categories generally, and I find modern Symph to often be off-putting to my tastes. Commonly music that might be classified as melodic rock and melodic metal, or on the AOR pop-rock side, and generally so-called arena rock does not appeal much, and such things can be found in various categories. And while I love lots of albums in heavy prog, I'm generally not much of a hard rocker. I'm more of a folky and art music person who likes various hard rock, I might say, but way too many exceptions to make a rule out of it. And lots of metal I do like. In the right times and places I can enjoy verse diverse styles. ------------- Watching while most appreciating a sunset in the moment need not diminish all the glorious sunsets I have observed before. It can be much like that with music for me. |
Posted By: Hrychu
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 21:44
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Whatever genre https://pharoahchromium.bandcamp.com/track/may-die" rel="nofollow - this is. ------------- 
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 21:59
| I never really got into RIO that much and other than a little bit of Magma never really got much into Zeuhl. I suppose I never got much into post rock or math rock either and also the more extreme forms of prog metal (just standard prog metal for me). Pretty much anything else is fair game although I suppose my favorites are symph, eclectic, heavy, Canterbury and Fusion. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: May 21 2025 at 22:00
What? How can you not like that? Pretty soon everyone is going to be requesting that instead of Freebird. 
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 00:25
| I don't care for RIO/Avant or experimental music. I don't like Zappa much either (he's a whole genre in itself). Eclectic to me is a total sham and seems to be a term reserved for bands with no real direction. Although off topic I would also question the idea that Genesis were even a symphonic band, they didn't think so and I agree. They were more akin to Supertramp than Yes or ELP. Yes were the most elegant and interesting prog band of the seventies and really not much else is close anyway. Jazz fusion isn't prog but is really a whole offshoot of Jazz. Prog is an offshoot of rock music but too often the simple fact of this is denied. The natural evolution of prog was through Rush and metal with many bands in the 80's doing what the seventies prog bands did. Neo prog is just simplified version of symph prog that happened post punk but I like it for what it is. |
Posted By: MikeEnRegalia
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 00:53
^ So you like none of the "eclectic" artists? King Crimson, Gentle Giant, VdGG?  Assigning a single genre to entire discographies is just not very useful. ------------- https://awesomeprog.com/release-polls/pa" rel="nofollow - Release Polls Listened to: 
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Posted By: Floydoid
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 06:18
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Genres I'm generally not a fan of at all: RIO/Avant-Prog, Zeuhl, Jazz Rock/Fusion, Experimental/Post Metal, Post Rock/Math Rock, Progressive Metal, Tech/Extreme Prog Metal ------------- "Christ, where would rock & roll be without feedback?" - D. Gimour |
Posted By: Disconnect
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 06:40
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I'm not sure I actually 'dislike' any particular subgenre of prog. I think for me it is more of a case where I haven't been exposed to certain subgenres and I am simply unfamiliar. So I would say the subgenres I'm not up to speed on would be: Indo-Prog/Raga Krautrock Zeuhl I wouldn't even know what key albums would be good 'jumping off' points as an introduction to those subgenres. ------------- "My own response to King Crimson is one of quiet terror." - Robert Fripp |
Posted By: MortSahlFan
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 07:18
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I don't like Neo ------------- https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition https://www.scribd.com/document/382737647/MortSahlFan-Song-List |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 07:28
Hi, I'm not sure that this is right, if we look at the history of music going back some 500 years or more. Music has always been an evolution and to suggest that this came from that is weird ... so Mozart came from the ridiculous idea of what baroque music was? I think that the time and place has a lot to do with it all ... and the late 1960's and early 1970's was a very inspirational time for music and all the arts (very important part of it that the Internet refuses to acknowledge!) where the freedoms were celebrated, instead of the commerciality of the whole thing, and as such, it gave us a lot of music that ... just like today ... can't make it or be seen ... witness some folks wondering where/what their band does ... and not realize that music is not about a particular theme/genre, but about YOU, and how you interpret it, and at that point you can say that the person/group lacks personality of its own if it has to rely on an outdated idea and concept that even lacks a proper/good definition!
Hi, Part of the secret on the arts is learning to see/listen/read things BY YOURSELF, not by someone's ideas or concepts. You learn to walk, by taking the next step, and you did it courageously when you were young ... the arts is the same, you venture into somewhere else, regardless of what it is. If you have to wonder/think that you are not up to speed on this or that, eventually that list will turn into 25 different things, and after a while, you might get up and say ... am I listening to anything? Or catching any arts? Reading anything other than pulp crap? When is the adventure going to start? ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: wiz_d_kidd
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 07:38
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Here's my list, with reasons why... Experimental/Post Metal, Progressive Metal, Tech/Extreme Prog Metal -- all loudness and noise. Avant/Experimental - just random, disjoint stuff. RPI - overly emotive vocals. Neo-Prog - overly emotive vocals. ------------- "Instrumental music is an expression that words can never capture." -- Peter Baumann |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 07:54
Hi, ... and copy copy copy copy ... and more guitar, more guitar, more guitar, more guitar ... and ... and ... and ... more snare on the beat ... more snare on the beat ... more snare (louder!!!) on the beat so the musicians (?????) know where they are!
Goodbye all the historical singers of any time and place, replaced by cardboard AI models (half disrobed of course!!!) that can't even hold a note, but their "song" is a hit ... somewhere! Might as well tell PH and KB and many others to quit now, because the 1984 military is coming!
I would rather suggest that the idea of this "genre" is a bit off kilter ... though it fits the description ... 1. new. "neonate" 2. a new or revived form of. "neo-Georgian" I think I would rather suggest that the old man has gotten old and can no longer articulate the real thing as well! So, then, the idea/genre, sadly, would not exactly represent the situation well! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Disconnect
Date Posted: May 22 2025 at 10:19
I can see your point, however let us say I pick a crappy Zeuhl album to start off with, dislike it greatly, then forever after disdain that subgenre? Growing up in the rural US in the 70s (US = "The Eternal Prog Desert") styles like Indo-Prog, Zeuhl, Krautrock are practically unknown. There are instances where one gets introduced to music by a friend or colleague and it can be quite a life-changing thing. The flip side of that is I have learned not to trust album reviews/ratings totals here at PA. A good example of that is the never-ending pissing contest here on PA between Yes and Genesis fans over whether CTTE or Selling England is the greater album ------------- "My own response to King Crimson is one of quiet terror." - Robert Fripp |